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Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech
By Simon Maurice
The 613th Commandment
This week's twin parshiot, Nitzavim-Vayelech
contains the final commandment of the Torah:
"So now write this song for yourself"
- which we take to mean that every Jew should
write - or participate in writing - his own
Torah.
The requirements for how a Torah should be
written are very precise. Every letter must
be surrounded by parchment - individualised
- and cannot touch another, but by the same
token, the letters that form a word must be
grouped together so that they don't appear as
individual letters.
In the same way, we as Jews have to take individual
responsibility for observing the Torah and its
precepts, and yet there is also a responsibility
of one Jew to stand alongside another, so that
we appear as a collective body and not merely
a collection of individuals.
The Torah consists of 304,805 letters and the
validity of a Sefer Torah depends on each and
every letter. If even one letter is incorrect
the whole of the Sefer Torah is compromised
and, in the same way, every single Jew is a
vital part of whole entity that is the Jewish
People.
With Nitzavim-Vayelech we've almost reached
the end of the Torah - yet we are also almost
at the beginning again - and, with the New Year,
comes the chance of being spiritually "re-born".
Like the letters of the Torah and like the Torah
as a whole, we will pray to Hashem as individuals
but our praying is as a collective and, hopefully,
our prayers for the year to come will be answered.
Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova.
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